Renosha, the leopard who sustained a deep wound in the winter, managed to survive. The predator was spotted by camera traps in Land of the Leopard National Park in April and May.

In late January 2017, camera traps captured images of the young male with a deep wound on his face. Renosha could have been injured when hunting or in a fight with another male for a female or territory. Scientists were not able to make an objective assessment of the wound and the threat to the leopard’s life based on the images, but supposed that the animal could lose his right eye.

Then, Renosha did not appear in front of cameras for two months.

The latest camera trap check in the national park showed that Renosha is alive and well: the wound healed over, and his eye was not injured. Judging by the leopard’s physical shape, he has no problems hunting. In addition, the animal reappeared in his territory, leaving numerous scratch marks on the ground to stake his claim to this territory.

“Despite the fact that the population of the Far Eastern leopard is growing and today there are about 80 animals in the world, the number of these spotted predators is still extremely low. The death of even one animal is a threat to the entire population. But Renosha survived, once again proving that these rarest big cats with incredibly plastic behaviour are able to overcome the most difficult obstacles,” said Tatyana Baranovskaya, director of Land of the Leopard National Park.

The national park employees have been monitoring Renosha since 2013. He is about five now. The leopard got his name in 2015 from employees of the Renova Group, which became his keepers.